A Tale of Two Soldiers
by HellsingKitten
Summary: Upon meeting the famed Chris, Sheva finds she is unable to ignore her immediate attraction to the man and as their mission progresses and things become even more dangerous for the two, she realizes she doesn't want to. Scarred by his former partner's death, Chris is reluctant to think of Sheva as more than his new partner but he is unable to stop his growing affection for her. Pt 1
1. Chapter 1

Chris Redfield wasn't at all how she'd pictured him, no, he looked much better; very tall, muscular and sculpted like a Greek statue and dark, piercing eyes that landed on her as she approached.

Sashaying towards him as he exited the jeep, Sheva extended her hand and said, "Welcome to Africa, Mr. Redfield."

He shook her gloved hand and flashed a grin that could easily melt butter. "Charmed and you must be Miss Alomar."

She nodded. "Just Sheva please and it's quite an honor to meet you, sir."

"Just call me Chris please," he said. "So you will be escorting me to our destination?"

Sheva gestured towards the busy street to their left. "Yes, I'm your partner to help keep everything civil. What with the change in government, the locals won't be pleased to see an American, BSAA or not."

Walking alongside her, Chris nodded as both of their earpieces crackled to life and another field agent began giving them a quick brief. Further along in Kijuju there was a black market deal happening and they'd be back up to Alpha Team who was already infiltrating the area. The butcher shop was where they were to meet their contact, grab their gear and receive more detailed information on their mission.

On the right side of the dirt street were a few small, downtrodden buildings that a few of the locals were within, trying to stay cool against the constant heat of the sun. The other side had a radio where many were listening intently and eying the American traipsing through their home.

As the new partners ambled down the dirt road, Sheva slowly noticed a lack in noise and cast a glance over her shoulder, stopping when she found that they were suddenly alone.

Chris paused and turned, seeing the desolate street he exchanged looks with her and shrugged. "Maybe they're all at bingo."

Smirking, Sheva started walking again, getting a slight lead on him and knowing his eyes were on her, made sure to give her hips a nonchalant thrust as she went. Arriving at the butcher shop door, she glanced at Chris, who gave her a nod and opened it, the two entering as the strong odor of raw meat infiltrated their senses.

Leaning against the next door, their contact, a burly man with a turban atop his head, said, "Ah, Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar, I've been waiting for you. Come this way." Pushing open the door, he led them into a larger room where stripped pigs' bodies hung from the ceiling. "The change in government has everyone wanting action. You two should do what you've come here for and leave as soon as possible."

"Yeah," Chris said following after the man. "They really roll out the red carpet for us, Americans."

Sheva grinned at him. She could already tell she was going to like being in his company, handsome, tall and a low, gravelly voice. When she'd read his file she had been surprised to find he wasn't married, not that thought anything would happen between the two of them, she never mixed business with pleasure. Still, flirting never hurt anybody.

The room was filled with meat, not all of it fresh, it was also full of flies and stacks of boxes and a door to the outside was just to their right. In front of them was a small table with an open suitcase that the two headed for, both feeling naked without their weapons. Two .9mm handguns sat inside, along with a few boxes of ammo, two packs and two sets of gun holsters.

After buckling her holsters over her shoulders and loading her pistol, Sheva looked at their contact and asked, "Destination coordinates?"

The Russian glanced at her with a blank expression and folded arms. "Town square is just up ahead. Alpha Team is waiting at the deal location." Giving them both a hard stare, he asked, "What do you know of Uroboros?"

Chris' brows lowered. "Mostly just rumors, something about a doomsday device."

The man scoffed. "Sounds about right, apparently it is no rumor."

Sheva shot Chris a worried expression. "You're kidding right?"

Glaring, as if he'd never made a joke in his life, he continued, "Find a man named Irving, he is our only lead." Heading for the door he called over his shoulder, "Be careful out there."

Chris took point and opened the next door, overtaking the small staircase in one step and heading off to the left where the path turned right underneath a long terrace.

"Remember," Chris said. "We're team. We stick together no matter what."

Happy he was taking the lead so she could admire the way his dark green shirt clung to his muscles, Sheva said, "Don't worry, I may not be as big as you but I can certainly handle myself." The smirk that briefly flashed onto his lips told her that some comment or other had crossed his mind, if for only that moment. "So what do you make of what he said back there?"

Eying the carcass of a dead goat, Chris stepped around it and replied, "About Uroboros? Who knows really, hopefully this is a simple deal we can help stop and find this Irving guy quickly."

Sheva moved behind Chris as he opened the next door into an empty building save for a few racks and kept her pistol firm in her hand. "And in your experience, what are the chances of that?"

Setting his hand on exit to the building he looked at her and said, "None at all."

A scream pierced the dusty silence of the back alleys they traveled and Sheva ran up the staircase in front of them and readied her gun, waiting for her partner. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah," he confirmed cocking his own weapon and slowly pushing the rusted door open.

Entering, they found three men, one being held down while another forced a squiggling creature down his throat.

"Freeze," Chris shouted raising his gun.

The two men attacking the other jumped to their feet and sprinted out the door to their left. Exchanging glances, Chris and Sheva approached the man on the floor as he choked and gagged on whatever had just been shoved into his body.

"Sir, are you okay?" Chris asked moving towards him and touching his shoulder.

The man growled and viciously swatted at Chris' touch, after he began clutching at his throat until blood squeezed its way from the corners of his eyes and he hunched over, his struggle apparently over. Standing, the man looked up at them and rushed at them, his hands outstretched as if they were claws.

Sheva took the first shot, her bullet piercing the man's skull. She lowered her weapon as he fell. "What the hell just happened?"

"He didn't move like any zombies I've ever seen." Chris motioned towards the door the other men had exited to and started towards it.

Following closely behind, Sheva nodded, remembering the report she'd read about the Raccoon City Incident that Chris had been a part of along with numerous others and pocketed her gun into its holster as Chris examined a window on the other side of the room. She began searching through the drawers of a dresser in the corner, finding a few boxes of ammunition and putting them into the pack on the back of her waist.

"I hope you aren't afraid of heights," Chris commented as he thrust his elbow into the glass of the window. Putting his gun away, he glanced at her with a smile and jumped through the opening, turning in the air and gracefully rolling when he reached the ground. He moved out of the way and towards the path in front of him and checked the next corner to make sure no one lurked in wait.

Sheva leapt through the window, rolling when she met the ground and coming up in a Spider Man like way and giggling afterward as she approached her partner.

"Let me guess," Chris said. "Always wanted to do that?"

Sheva smiled. "How did you know?"

Starting down the next path he answered, "The first time I ever jumped out of a window, I did it too."

"So much in common," Sheva drawled taking the lead.

Chris watched her walk ahead and resisted the urge to grin, she was certainly feisty and so far she was living up to her file. A crack shot, seemingly fearless in the face of danger and not hesitant to do what was necessary.

She was different from Jill, not that that was a bad thing. If Ms. Valentine had been the one next to him she would have attempted to reason with the crazed man before stopping him permanently but that wasn't always a good thing. Sometimes it really did have to be shoot first and ask questions later.

"We need to get out of here," Sheva said when a slew of shouts began echoing from behind them. When he didn't seem to register, his face still blank, she added, "Chris, are you listening?"

"Yes," he said shaking his head slightly. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," she snapped. "There's a place just ahead, we can escape through there."

Hurrying down the path, they arrived at a building that luckily had a large wooden bar to keep the door locked, at least for a while. Looking around the two found a few medicinal herbs and ammo boxes and in the next room was a hole they jumped down.

"Come in, Kirk," Chris said. "The locals turned hostile and we've had to put one of them down."

"Roger that," Kirk said flatly. "Your orders still stand, good luck."

Past the dripping ceiling and twittering rats was a ladder that Sheva began up first. "Does that mean HQ was expecting this?" she called.

The room the ladder led to was a without a door and empty, the two headed down the next path, jumping down a small hill, grabbing a few items they spotted as they went and into the next area, a three story building full of fruits, boxes and dressers.

"Look," Sheva said in a hushed tone. Approaching the window on the left wall, she watched as a large crowd of locals shouted at a man on a high ledge, in his hand was a megaphone. "What is going on out there?"

"Shit," Chris muttered when he saw them bring out their contact.

"You don't know what you're talking about," the Russian yelled as he struggled to free himself of his binds. "You can all go to hell."

The man with the megaphone shouted at the crowd through the megaphone, he then looked at the gigantic executioner who held an axe. The axe man had a dark cowl covering his face and brought up his blood stained weapon and chopped off the Russian's head with one clean slice.

Sheva turned away, accidentally pressing her face against Chris' chest for a second before pulling away and shaking her head.

"You okay?" Chris asked gently touching her shoulder.

"Fine but we should get out of here, that crowd doesn't look like it's had its fill of bloodshed yet."

Listening to the cheering people outside, Chris was about to suggest their next move to say out of sight when he heard the bloodthirsty crowd go silent. Glancing out the window he saw that they had all turned their attention to them and he backed away from the window. "Aw, fuckin' hell."

"I'm thinking that somehow you're used to the worst possible scenario happening," Sheva commented as the large group of locals charged at the gate that surrounded the building they were in. "Let's use the bookshelves, that'll buy us a minute and a half at least."

Chris rushed to the book shelf beside the door on the far wall and pushed it in front of it and looking at Sheva, he saw that she had just finished covering the window. "Okay, there aren't that many of them. It looks like we're going to have to shoot our way out."

"What about that behemoth?" Sheva asked referring to the executioner.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it but for now, when they break through make sure you aim for the head. We need to make sure every bullet counts."

The bookshelves began shaking as the glass of the window shattered and the door began being pounded on. Slowly the rotting wood was broken through and the angry locals bombarded the inside of the building. While Sheva covered the door as they broke inside, Chris kept his aim on those who crawled through the broken window, all unfazed by anything than a headshot. Though it seemed like more than an hour as they ran through their limited amount of ammunition, the amount of locals thinned until only the executioner remained, swinging his axe and bursting through the gate.

"What do you have left?" Chris asked as he reloaded his last ten shots.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Sheva replied, "Six."

"Kirk, we're having some troubles here, we're pinned down with barely anything ammo to work with and the only way out is blocked by a gate."

"Sit tight you two," he said through their earpieces. "I'm on my way, ETA is five minutes."

Sheva glanced at Chris. "What do we do till then?"

Chris watched as the axe man raised his weapon to tear it through the building wall. "Run like hell."

The jagged axe ripped into the wall, breaking it away like it was a piece of paper and as he recovered and pulled the heavy weapon back onto his shoulder, Chris and Sheva dashed past him and into the next area.

Sheva looked around, the two buildings had too many windows and while she saw a few items in both that would be useful it wasn't going to help at the moment. Their last attacker was making his way towards them, his large frame overtaking the gap that stood between them quickly.

"Hey, Sheva, come take a look at this," Chris called.

Turning around she saw that Chris was a few feet away in the further right corner behind a few fruit stands. Running towards him she said, "This probably isn't the best time to be sightseeing…oh my." On a table was a suitcase with a TMP inside that she snatched. "This is lovely."

"I agree," Chris said though his eyes lingered on her for a quick moment. "This might just help us turn the odds."

Sheva turned and unloaded the entire clip of her new toy into the assailant and a smile curved her lips when he fell to her knees just as the magazine was spent. Reloading with the extra clip that had been underneath the automatic weapon, she noticed Chris rush past her and her mouth dropped open when he threw an uppercut straight into the man's head, sending him flailing backwards.

"Holy hell," she mumbled as he returned to her side. "Impressive," she blurted.

"Alright you two," came Kirk's voice. "Find some cover."

Not needing to be told twice, Chris and Sheva exchanged relieved glances and ducked behind into one of the buildings and knelt into corners. The explosion that rang out a second later was followed by the loud sound of bangs as the gate that blocked their exit flew this way and that way. When the noise quieted they headed back out, finding that their way was clear and the last hostile was nowhere to be found.

"Great job, Kirk," Sheva said pulling out a belt from her pack.

Chris watched her buckle her TMP to her hip. "Thanks a lot, Kirk, we owe you one."

"Thank me later, it's almost time for Alpha Team to head in, you two need to hurry to the coordinates."

"Roger that," Sheva said.

"See you there and good luck, Kirk out."

"That was very different," Sheva said as the two salvaged the items they could use from the area.

Following the path now opened by the gate that wrapped around the rumble of a destroyed structure, they found a large door and pushed them open.

"DeChant here," the leader of Alpha Team said, his voice crackling with gunshots. "Kirk, our route is blocked."

Continuing along, they came across a local woman kneeling over a body and as they neared, she turned and lunged for Chris who put her down before she got too close. A moment later Alpha Team's captain came back onto the comm though whatever he was trying to saw ended up jumbled among thick static.

"Alpha Team," Kirk yelled. "What is your status?"

When more static came through, Sheva said, "Alpha Team, come in. Do you read?" She looked at Chris who motioned for them to continue.

In their path was a locked door so they backtracked to the area just past the dead woman, there they found a broken ladder.

"Toss me," Sheva said looking up at the connecting rooftops. "Maybe there's some way to open from up there somewhere."

Chris nodded and laced his fingers together and held them out. "Be careful."

Steadying herself on his shoulders, their eyes met and hoping he couldn't see her blushing, she placed her foot onto his hands. "The same to you."

Grinning boyishly, Chris threw her up, hearing the thump above him he looked and saw her jogging across the planks that connected the roves and heard a door open. A minute or so later he saw her on the other side of the door and advanced towards it as she undid the locks.

"That was quick."

"I'm pretty good on my feet and off them," she commented with a smirk as she pulled the door open. "Come on, we have to be close."

Not bothering to hide the grin playing on his lips, Chris followed after her to another door. There were two buildings in the next area, one up a flight of stairs and one to their immediate left.

Chris tried to open the closer building and shook his head. "The damn thing is locked."

"Wait," Sheva said pulling out a key from her back pocket. "I found a key up there, maybe it'll work." She inserted it and the door opened instantly. "Voila."

Entering first, Chris' eyes lit up at what he saw on the far wall, strapped to it was an M9 shotgun that he quickly picked up.

Sheva saw a box of shells on the desk to the left and held them out to him. "Here's something to have more fun with."

Chris turned to her, holding her gaze for a moment before accepting the box and loading the gun. "You get your toy and I get mine. Why in the world do people have these things lying around?"

"You Americans are allowed to own guns, aren't you?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I can't imagine going into someone's home and finding one of these babies though."

She shrugged. "Come on, let's check out-"

A piercing screech interrupted her and the two rushed outside and looked to the next building. A blonde woman in a thin gown was reaching towards them from the balcony, yelling for help. It couldn't have been more than a millisecond when a man came from behind her, grabbed her and hauled her back inside.

Exchanging looks, Chris and Sheva ran to the building, their guns locked and loaded and they kicked the door open.


	2. Chapter 2

"Be careful," Chris shouted as he caught the blonde woman, who was seemingly fine.

Sheva was unsettled by the lack of enemies, for starters where was the man who'd grabbed this woman, why had he done that and just who was this lady? Walking across the room, she was relieved that they were alone but still, she did have that nagging feeling.

"Are you okay?" she heard Chris ask the woman which was immediately followed by screams and shouts.

Turning around Sheva saw that the woman had large tentacle like things extending from her mouth and was trying to grab Chris' face with them. Raising her gun she shot the woman in the back of the head which broke her grip and she stumbled backwards.

"Are you alright?" Sheva asked, her gun trained on the growling woman.

"Yeah, thanks, now let's put this bitch down."

With Chris using his shotgun and Sheva exhausting what was left of her TMP rounds, the strange monstrous like woman quickly fell, her body burning into ash after her death.

"That seemed odd," Sheva mumbled as they left the building. "Her head just exploded into…what was that, a centipede?"

Crossing the large area to the door behind a locked gate, Chris shrugged. "I honestly don't know what to tell you. This all reminds me of the Kennedy report I read awhile back, so bizarre."

Their earpiece came to life once again with Kirk contacting HQ, informing them that he'd lost Alpha Team. "Some unidentified B.O.W. attacked them and we need reinforcements to their location immediately."

"Roger that," Sheva said kicking open the next door that stood in their way.

The hall before them was dark and dingy and smelled like something was rotten close by. Turning the corner they headed up a staircase, side stepping a stream of strange black goo that dripped from cracks in the ceiling. Continuing down the next corridor, a soldier wandered out from the next corner and fell to the floor.

Sheva knelt beside him and felt for a pulse, glancing up at Chris she said, "He's dead." She felt around his neck and pulled off his dog tags, grimacing at the goop on it. "He's a member of Alpha Team…what the hell is going on here?"

"Let's keep moving, we need to find DeChant and quickly."

Wiping off the tag and pocketing it, Sheva headed up the ladder off to their right after Chris, over a small gap in the second floor and to the next door. Kicking it down they entered with their guns drawn.

"What the hell happened in here?" Chris demanded as he surveyed the dead Alpha Team members strewn around the room.

Kneeling beside sacks of something or other was the team leader, a bald large man, DeChant was not easily taken down yet here he was nursing his side.

"Hey," Chris said rushing to his side. "Who did this?"

Bleeding and broken the man clenched his teeth and replied, "S-Something attacked us…Irving…he escaped…setup."

"A setup?" Sheva echoed from behind.

DeChant pressed something into Chris' hand. "This is data regarding the deal."

While Chris tended to the wounded man, Sheva heard running footsteps out the door on the far wall. Rushing over she peered out the barred window in time to see a man wearing a suit disappearing around the next corner.

"I downloaded it from their computer," DeChant continued as he strained against the pain. "You've got to get it to HQ."

When his head hung to the right, Chris grabbed his arms and shook him. "Hang in there."

Sheva turned. "I saw someone just now but he was running away…I didn't get a good look."

Nodding, Chris got to his feet and pressed a button on his earpiece. "Kirk, do you copy? We've got the data but Alpha Team is down and Irving is gone."

Through a static-y line, Kirk replied, "Copy that, there's a storage facility close to you two, and relay the data through there."

"Copy that," Chris said approaching his partner.

They stared at each for a second before heading into the next hall.

"I don't like the looks of this," Sheva whispered, her voice slightly shaken. "But we have to keep moving."

The next room had another member of Alpha Team laid in the middle with that strange black liquid covering him. Just past him was a door with a red light above a keyhole and it was locked.

"We need a key to get through, see anything?" Chris asked.

Sheva pointed at the hall to their right. "Maybe we'll find something through there."

Down two more corners was a large room with a gate making it so crossing through the center of the room wasn't possible and along the walls were a number of gas tanks. On the far wall was another wall with two openings and a control panel just outside that. On the floor beside the panel was a key.

"Perfect," Sheva said grabbing it. "Let's go and get the hell outta here."

They backtracked to the previous room and Sheva kept her gun trained on the surroundings as Chris reached his hand towards the door with the key in hand. A noise prompted him to glance behind him and watched the scene before him in horror.

Dropping from the ceiling was a massive amount of tentacles sprouting from nothing and covered in the bubbled black goop they'd been seeing around the building. It fell onto the dead man in the room and seemingly devoured him into its being.

Chris raised his gun. "I think that's the thing that got Alpha Team." He fired a few rounds.

The creature shrieked and threw its arm at them, separating them for a moment when they dodged out of the way.

Sheva braced herself on the wall and stifled a groan when her knee bashed against the hard surface. Turning around she saw that the monster was facing her and readying another attack towards her.

"Fuck," she muttered lifting her firearm, hearing Chris firing his own weapon at its back she unloaded her magazine into the thing. "This isn't working, Chris."

"I know," he yelled. "We need to get some room, let's regroup in the next room."

Loading another clip, she waited for it to raise its slimy arm and slid underneath it as it dropped it towards her. Pushing to her feet, Sheva raced down the hall, feeling slightly safer when she heard Chris' footsteps ahead. Going around the corner she saw that he was already in the room and wrestling one of the gas tanks to the floor.

"What're you doing?" she asked as the tank clattered down.

"Our weapons aren't doing a damn thing," Chris replied as he began pushing another down. "Maybe if we can get it near one of these and shoot it, it'll hurt it."

Sheva glanced behind her, seeing if there was anything she could help with and approached the control panel. Reading the labels over a switch and lever, she formed a plan of her own.

"Chris," she called over her shoulder. "I think if we can get that thing into this room here, we'll stand a real chance of killing the son of a bitch."

Walking over to her he looked at the panel over her shoulder and at the buttons. Sheva couldn't help but smirk when she felt the warmth of his body and smelled sandalwood wafting from him. The fresh scent had her unconsciously leaning towards him and less than a second later her side was lightly pressing against his sculpted form. Her breath caught in her throat and she tipped her head slightly to look up at him and as their eyes met, a loud growl interrupted.

Whirling around, Chris watched the creature crawl into the room and began towards them and smiled when one of the tanks hitched to its sticky surface.

"Yes," he said backing away towards the room behind them. "We need to get it into here and I'll keep it distracted while you run back around and press that button and that should be it."

Perspiration dripping down her forehead, Sheva inhaled and exhaled ragged breaths and as the creature neared them, they raced into the next area. Watching it amble towards them, she looked at Chris and saw that his jaw was tightly clenched. She took one hand off her pistol and placed it on his shoulder.

He shot her a look.

"Good luck and I'll be as fast as Speed Racer."

Chris chuckled. "Haven't heard about that old cartoon in quite a long time and I trust you so get ready."

Returning her attention to their attacker, she waited until it reached the room and dashed back out and made it to panel just as the creature entered the room with Chris. He took a shot at it and ducked out just as the tank stuck to its back exploded, rendering it helpless.

"Sheva, do it now!"

She pulled the lever and shutter doors slammed down and Chris came up beside her as she pressed the button and a wall of flames erupted from the ceiling. When it ended and the doors opened, the creature had been burned to nothing.

Sighing, Sheva laughed and palmed her forehead. "That was some good teamwork, eh?"

Turning his head, they made eye contact once again and nodding he gestured towards the opening at the other end of the room. "Let's blow this popsicle joint, huh?"

Sheva burst into laughter as they left side by side. "I hope you're full of those cheesy, one-liners."

Chris chuckled. "You like those, huh?"

"Very much, they go along with your charming personality."

As they approached the locked door, Sheva remembered the dead men in the room down the hall and said, "We need to report that thing back to HQ."

Chris unlocked the door and around the corner where he spotted a silver case propped between the wall and a barrel. He moved it out and opened it, inside were six boxes of ammunition.

Sheva retrieved three of them. "It's lucky these are around here…odd but lucky."

Reloading his weapon, Chris nodded. "I agree but I've learned in my numerous adventures against Umbrella that there are random caches of this and that everywhere. Helpful indeed but very odd but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

At the end of the corridor was an elevator, the light above flickering every so often.

Chris pushed the button and the elevator doors closed, sending the small lift down slowly. When the doors opened, they both raised their weapons and inspected the large area in front of them before relaxing. There were two green jeeps a few feet in front of them and two large containers against both the left and right wall.

Glancing inside one of the vehicles, Chris saw a case and pulled the door open. "I got it."

Keeping her weapon raised, Sheva looked back at him. "What was that thing?"

"Most likely left by that jackass Irving to kill or stall us. Hell, considering what it did to Alpha Team, we're lucky to still be breathing."

Sheva grinned. "Teamwork I tell you." Lowering her weapon she added, "If only we'd gotten there sooner. We could have prevented some of their deaths, maybe."

"We'd probably be dead as well if you had so don't go blaming yourself and I wouldn't want to lose you."

"Oh yeah?"

Typing away at the computer inside the case, Chris answered, "That shot of yours is off the charts. Your files were certainly not as flattering as they needed to be."

The upright curve in her lips disappeared. "Right, I am one of the best."

"Chris to HQ, do you copy?"

"HQ here, we've received the data, you did excellent work out there."

"This whole town has gone to hell," Chris said and glanced at his partner. "They're acting like the Ganados outlined in the Kennedy Report and aside from that, there's something new and even more dangerous happening around here."

"Our transportation is no longer an option, request a mission update."

"The mission still stands. Irving is your number one priority. We believe he's fled to the mines on the other side of the train station."

Chris shot her a worried glance. "Wait, we're all alone here and you want us to continue after him?"

"Not to worry," HQ replied. "Delta Team has been dispatched and will be arrived soon. They'll assist in locating and apprehending Irving."

"But wait," Sheva protested. "We can't…"

"Repeat, your mission still stands. We can't afford to let him get away so head to the mines and HQ out."

"This is insane," Sheva said brushing her fingers through her hair.

Chris slammed the jeep door shut. "Ever get the feeling that you're expendable?"

Sheva looked at him, her eyebrows lowered as she took in that very sentence. Setting her gun into her holster she eyed an attaché case on a nearby crate and headed towards it. "I guess we'd better start moving then." Started towards it she turned her head when he said her name.

"You're right, this is crazy but we can do this."

"I know that," she said with a sly grin. "It's you and me Mr. Redfield and we're going to finish this mission so you can buy me a drink."

Chris watched her open the case and lift out a new gun but his eyes wasn't on the shiny new weapon she held but instead on his partner. He was glad he'd accepted this mission and as she ooh and ah'd at her toy, he bit his lip and couldn't wait for that drink.


	3. Chapter 3

Chris heard it before he saw and pushing off the ground he froze for a second when he saw that the chain he'd just dodged had wrapped itself around Sheva's leg and was dragging her across the area.

He raised his gun and took the shot, the chain broke and he exhaled a dry breath when he saw she was free.

"Sheva," he said reaching her and pulling her up. "Are you okay?"

She wiped at the blood in the corner of her mouth. "No time, look!"

Another biker appeared on the scene and rushed at them. They jumped out of the way and scrambled to their feet. Two more men on bikes jumped into the area and the four assailants began circling them, making sure they couldn't run anywhere. As they closed in, a shot rang out and pierced one of the biker's heads, this was followed by three more and the bikes fell to the ground, two crashing into each other and exploding.

Coughing through the dust, Chris looked at his partner. "Are you alright?" he asked examining her face. He slid his hand onto her face and rubbed his thumb across the cut on her cheek. "Does this hurt? I have first aid and-"

"Chris," she said grabbing his hand. "I'm perfectly fine, I've taken bigger hurts than this, nice shooting by the way."

He shook his head. "No, that wasn't me, I thought it was you."

"No," another man's accented voice said. "That would be us."

Chris saw another team walking towards them on three different ends and moved his hand away. "Are you guys Delta Team?"

"I'm Josh," the captain said. "But let's not stay out here, we need to get into cover for the moment."

Redirected to a building off the right, Chris and Sheva followed the members of Delta Team inside.

"Man, am I glad to see you guys," Chris said approaching the captain.

While his men left to get a better view on the immediate area, Josh shook hands with Chris. "Captain Stone."

"I'm Chris Redfield."

"Sheva," Josh said looking at her with a smile.

When she returned it, Chris watched as they shook hands. "I take it you two know each other then?"

"I trained under him," she answered with a nod. "He taught me everything I know."

"She's the best shot I've ever seen," Josh said proudly. "She became the little sister of the team."

Sheva playfully punched his arm. "Yeah, yeah, I'm the little sister who can outshoot all of you."

"Enough pleasantries," Josh said. "You two have to continue your search for Irving." He pulled out a small card. "According to the date we've retrieved, we believe he has moved on to this mining area."

Chris accepted the item.

"My team and I will follow after taking care of everything here and make sure I can reach if just in case."

"Thanks, Josh."

Not liking how the two of them were looking at each other, Chris took a step closer to her and said, "Yeah, we'll make sure to do that."

Josh glanced at Chris and flashed a half grin before heading out the side door behind him.

"So let's see if we can't find this guy," Sheva said pulling out her gun.

He nodded and pulled out the issued cell all agents were given and put the data chip inside. A series of pictures pulled up though one particular one of a blonde-haired woman stopped Chris.

"Jill," he muttered, staring at the photo as a slew of memories from the past resurfaced.

"Chris, are you alright?"

"It's this picture here it's…" He glanced at her. "It's nothing, let's move out."

Sheva watched him leave the building and tried not to dwell on that glazed over look that had just flashed onto his face. She wanted to ask him about it, about the woman in the picture but thought it best that she didn't. They'd been through a lot in the last few hours, fighting the crazed locals of the area and the other strange creatures lurking about and they had certainly bonded. Every scrape or fall down she noticed he was lingering his gaze on her and just minutes ago he'd so gingerly touched her face and she couldn't stop thinking about it. That simple and quick touch had seemed like time had slowed down and she could still feel the heat from his hand and couldn't stop glancing at it now, wanting to stop him and put his hand back there.

A snarl brought her back to the here and now and she tightened her grip on her pistol. "We are certainly not alone."

"No," Chris agreed pulling his shotgun from his back belt clip. "Get ready."

A series of large dog like creatures that they had encountered not long ago burst out from the shadows, forcing them to put down the unlucky animals. The train cars in front of them were lined with explosives, so after dealing with both threats, Sheva and Chris continued on to the mines, just in front of them.

"Holy fuck," Chris swore as he felt around in the dark. "I can't see anything."

Concerned at the lack of light, Sheva said, "Stay right here, there's usually a flashlight or something around when the lights get knocked out."

Chris reached out towards her voice and grabbed her shoulder. "Hey wait. I don't want us splitting up. There could be anything out there."

She laid her hand on his. "Don't worry, it's most likely just in front of us, I'll be right back."

Reluctantly he pulled away from her and waited while tapping his foot for her footsteps to return. When a minute passed and a shot echoed down the cavern, he found the wall and started walking forward. "Sheva?" he called.

A light broke through the darkness. "Stop shouting," She said flashing the lantern she'd found at him. "Look, I've found something."

"Great but what was that just now? I heard a shot."

"Worrier," she commented with a soft smile. "There was a man with a hatchet right in front of me when I found this so I did what I had to but I'm fine." She turned and shed light on the path in front of them. "Let's continue on, I don't like not being able to see."

Holding the lantern, Sheva took point with Chris close behind and taking care of any enemies that they come upon. After a few turns and one dead end, they arrived at a well-lit part of the mines that was separated from their area by a gate. To the right was a lever.

"This just doesn't seem like anything but a trap," Chris said looking down the dark hall they'd just emerged from. "I'll turn this and you go and see if there's a way to keep this thing open from that side."

She nodded and set the lantern down. "Ready when you are." Noticing a strange look on his face she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No," he replied. "This is just déjà vu for me, anyway, let's get this over with. I'll be happy when we've made it back to the light of day."

With Chris rolling the crank, Sheva quickly ducked under the gate as it lifted and raced to the opposite ending, searching for a switch. When she found another crank on her end, she began turning it and released it when he made it to her.

"That seemed a little too simple," he said looking up at the second and third floors above them.

Sheva tsked at him. "You should never look a gift horse in the mouth, you know."

Well," he said watching her climb a ladder. "It's either that or I think it and since I know how much you just love to hear me talk…"

Chuckling as she headed for the next ladder, Sheva said, "Oh yeah, I cannot get enough of that deep, husky voice of yours. How did you know?"

As she prepared to head up to the second floor, Chris moved close to her and whispered in her ear, "I just know these things."

A little stirred, Sheva was glad he couldn't see her face and quickly climbed to the next floor and pretended to check her pistol while she waited for him to follow after. In truth she was doing her best not to stare at his lips, they'd been so close to her and the heat she'd felt had…well it had her feeling like she shouldn't be in this sort of situation. About facing when he reached her, she told herself to say nice and calm so he didn't know just how shaken he'd made her but they were definitely grabbing that drink.

Chris took the lead as they headed up a winding, circular path, as he looked around the next corner, he turned back to her and held a finger to his lips. Pulling out a grenade from his belt, he tossed it into the next room and they ducked back.

When it went off, Sheva cracked an eye open and was shocked to find he was looking down at her though he immediately glanced away and up the next corridor.

"Are we clear?" she asked.

"I think so," he replied heading into the next room.

There was blood splattered everywhere so there had certainly been men lying in wait here. Just past that was an elevator that they took up to the surface.

The setting sun greeted them as well as a set of stairs leading up into a building. Preparing for what was to come, the two headed inside. Looking over a desk was a blonde man in a dusty suit, he jumped when they entered, their guns pointed at him.

"Shit," he muttered raising his own gun with a shaky hand.

"So you must be Irving," Sheva said.

With a half grin, he said, "Pretty and perceptive, aren't 'cha? Why don't you cut ties with this meathead and we'll ride off into the sunset."

"You think this is a joke?" she demanded annoyed, moving slightly closer. "You're just like all the other pieces of scum terrorists, course most of them dress better."

"Oh I'm not like them. I am a business man with standards."

"Drop the weapon," Chris said raising his voice.

"Or," Irving said as his voice cracked. "How about you twos drop yours."

A gas grenade flew inside through a window and while Chris and Sheva ducked and coughed against the fumes, a mysterious cloaked figure crashed in from the rooftop and pulled Irving back outside.

Exchanging looks, they rushed to the window and looked outside but the two were now gone.

"Great," Chris mumbled waving his hand at the gas.

"It would seem Irving has a partner," Sheva said. "Makes sense really, doesn't seem like he's the kind of guy who could tie his shoes."

Shaking off a grin, Chris turned back to the table and the case Irving had left and opened it. "There must be something here we aren't supposed to see."

Hearing the rustle of paper, Sheva approached. "What is it?" Seeing a map and a few photos she recognized, she added, "The oil field…that's in the marshlands."

"Then I know where we're going," Chris said setting the clipboard down. "Delta Team, Chris here, we found Irving but he got away."

"Do you know where he went?" Josh asked a moment later.

"We found papers indicating an oil field in the marshlands."

"I'll send some men after him but I need you two to head back this way."

"Roger that."

While Chris spoke with Delta, Sheva had been looking through the room and found a few ammo boxes, first aid and a rifle. "Oh hell yeah," she muttered.

"Find something interesting?" Chris asked seeing the glimmer in her eyes.

A devious grin slipped across her face as she nodded. "This baby is going to come in handy."

Shouts from outside prompted them to head back to the window and look outside. More locals were in their next path, now armed with guns instead of boxes and axes.

"I do believe that time is now," he said ducking down as they loaded a machine gun. "This all seems pretty extreme."

Sheva ducked beside him. "I'll provide cover from here if you want to go and give 'em hell up close and personal."

He laughed. "You know me so well. Wish me luck."

She watched him dash down the lower floor before whispering, "Luck." Standing up she moved to the right of the window and looked out, taking two headshots before moving back and reloading.

The next couple of minutes passed by relatively quickly and slow at the same time, while Sheva dispatched the men attacking them with her rifle, Chris took to the ground, luring those who hid out into the open. When the first area was cleared they headed up a ladder and ran up the slopes laced with dynamite and gun toting crazies until finally all was quiet. Barely a minute had ticked by when a swarm of bats covered the orange sky and a truck turned from the next corner and started towards them at a fast drive. Slowing to a stop the driver made sure the vehicle blocked their only escape route

"This doesn't seem good," Sheva muttered watching as the back of the vehicle began to shake as something within knocked against it over and over.

Chris pulled off his shotgun. "Whatever happens we can handle this."

A creature emerged after ripping a hole into the side of the truck, the top half of it was bat like while its back was long and resembled a centipede. It roared and flew into the air.

"I don't know what that thing is," Sheva said as they retreated a good distance from it. "But I'm sure Irving is responsible."

"Whatever it is, I don't think our guns are going to be much good with it in the sky like that." Noticing a small shack behind them he motioned towards it. "Look in there and I'll watch that thing."

Sheva ran inside and after smashing a few wooden barrels she found three proximity mines. "I do believe I have just found our ace, look at these."

Chris smiled as he took two of them from her. "Okay, I've got our plan. I'll set these down and you lure it to us with some shots just don't let it get to close."

"Roger that," she said raising her rifle.

He placed his hand on her arm. "I mean huh, don't let it get too close."

"Go do your thing, I've got this."

Sheva started her attack and as the creature flew towards her, Chris ran around the path to the other side and planted one of the mines.

He shot his pistol, drawing its attention and it turned and proceeded at him in a quick dash and almost patted himself on the back when the creature walked straight onto a mine and it blew it into pieces.

"Nice job," Sheva said over her earpiece. "So what do we do about that car there? It's still in our way."

"When in doubt," Chris said with a chuckle as he placed the second mine underneath it. Jogging away he headed for Sheva before telling her to give it a little push.

The shot sent the truck into the air and over the side of the cliff. Another jeep pulled around the corner just as the other vehicle fell and it stopped when reaching them.

"Chris, Sheva, get in!" the driver yelled.

Without hesitation they hopped into the open back of the jeep where two sets of machine guns were mounted. Taking seats they both breathed with relief and looked back at the area they were leaving as the jeep took off back the way it had come.

Sheva looked at Chris and saw that same look from before; there was something on his mind and she was dying to find out what but it was none of her business. Lacing her hands together she hoped their mission would be coming to an end soon. All of this was absolute madness but she did have to admit, she was having fun.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the fuck was that thing?!" Sheva yelled.

Chris glanced at the gigantic creature they'd just brought down with machine guns and looked at his partner, she was soaked to the bone and he could tell by the strained lines on her forehead that her tears were mixing with the rain. His gaze slowly traveled over the fallen bodies of Delta Team as she pulled their tags.

"Where are you, Josh?" she murmured.

He approached her. "You don't have to do this, you can still back out."

Sheva shot him a look like he was insane. "What about you? I can't just leave you here alone."

He looked away for a moment. "I've got a personal stake in this."

"A personal stake?" she repeated. "You mean that picture…the one of that woman?" When he didn't respond she added, "Look around, we both should get the hell out of here."

"I can't…you're right…that girl in the photo looked a hell of a lot like my former partner who was supposed to have been killed and I didn't know what to think." He ran his hand through his hair. "When I saw that data from Delta Team, I knew…Jill is still alive."

"And this Jill…is important to you?" She bit her lip. "Are you even sure it's the same person?"

"I'm positive," he answered without missing a beat. "We were partners for a long time, I'd know her anywhere." With a slight nod he started to walk away.

"Wait," Sheva called. "We're partners and you can't…" she clenched her fist. "I can't just let you walk away. No I won't let you go alone." She followed after him, slightly perturbed that he still hadn't looked back at her. "I said wait, dammit."

"I don't have much time, I have to find her."

"I'm going with you," she said firmly.

He stopped and turned around. "Why?"

Sheva stared at him for a long moment before replying, "Because these are my people dying out here, I can't just turn my back and walk away."

He leaned in close. "A second ago you were ready to just cut and run. There are no more orders from this point on, it's just us."

"We partners," she retorted. "To the end, now let's get moving."

Chris smirked. "Copy that."

At the end of the docks in front of them was a small motor boat, while Chris took the top seat, starting the engine and turning on the flood light so they could see into the dark night, Sheva sat by his feet and wondered what she had just gotten herself into. Glancing back at him, she hoped that drink was worth it.

XXXXX

Despite the pain in her calf, Sheva couldn't concentrate on anything aside from Chris' hand and the fact that it was currently pressed against her side. She hadn't gotten herself hurt in the first place but at the moment she didn't mind.

"I can walk on my own," she heard herself say though immediately, she wondered why.

"No, you're wounded," Chris countered as they continued through the hall. "The minute I let you go onto that raft I knew it was a mistake."

"I can take care of myself and let's get this straight. I'm just letting you do this to make you feel better and because that damn crocodile came out of nowhere."

Chris smiled. "Of course but until we find somewhere to sit so I can look at that, I am helping you walk."

Sheva scoffed though didn't protest again, she didn't even know what had prompted her to attempt to get him to break away his touch. No, that wasn't true, she did know. It was because of his old partner and the fond look in his eyes when he'd talked about her all those long hours ago. Before the two of them had gone off into the marshlands without a real plan and fought dozens of enemies while protecting each other and calling out to one another. They had been doing all of that because they were partners, she was his partner right now in this moment.

So why did it matter that he was referring to this Jill as his partner? It shouldn't…but it did and it was driving her insane trying not to think about it.

"What the hell is Tricell doing here?"

Snapping out of her drowning thoughts, she saw what he was referring to, a few feet away from them were two tents with the Tricell logo printed on the flaps.

"They helped fund the BSAA," Sheva commented as they headed to the closest tent. "Why would they be here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Chris said helping her onto a bench inside the tent. "Now let me see your wound."

Sheva shifted on the bench. "It's not a wound, just a scratch and I'm fine."

Chris glared up at her though a grin broke onto his lips before he could finish it effectively. "We aren't going anywhere until you let me see the wound. So please take off your boot."

Biting the inside of her cheek, Sheva unbuckled her boot and took it off, glancing away as a blush darkened her face when he laughed.

"These are the cutest socks I have ever seen," Chris said brushing his hand onto the back of her calf. "Pink and blue polka dots huh, never would have pictured you wearing these."

Sheva pulled her foot away. "They're warm and…fuzzy and can we just get this over with. We have a mission, remember?" She rolled her pants over her knee.

Chris focused on the blood oozing from the gash just below her knee and made a face. "I can tell this hurts and not just because you winced when you moved your pant leg." He pulled out a small first aid kit from one of the pouches on his belt and began wiping it clean. "I was terrified you know. When that thing came out of the water and I couldn't see you for that split second. I thought the worst and I…just if we can help it, let's stick together. No more splitting up."

"What, you don't want to be like Scooby and the gang?" she asked with a large grin.

He chuckled. "You really studied your old cartoons during that year in America, huh?"

"It helped me focus to have background noise," she answered with a shrug. "Plus who isn't entertained by a talking dog, all of them that those 90s cartoons had to offer." She watched him begin to wrap gauze around her leg. "You were terrified…how come?"

He paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't want to lose another partner and you're starting to grow on me. There, you're all good…feel better?"

She rolled her pant leg back down and pulled her boot over it, glad to have covered her embarrassing sock. "It does, thank you."

He stood up and looked down at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiled. "Let's get this dog and pony show on the road then."

Sheva grabbed her pistol and nodded. "I knew you had to have more of those in you."

Chris leaned down. "I have got way more than that in me, now let's move."

Sheva let him leave the tent first and accidentally let her eyes flit over his butt and couldn't help but make a grabbing motion with her hands. Stifling a giggle she followed after him.

XXXXXX

The room was bare save for an elevator and control panel in the center. With both guns raised, Sheva and Chris checked and confirmed the area was empty. They whirled around, pistols cocked when a click echoed from the shadows behind them.

"Josh," Sheva said lowering her weapon, a smile spreading across her lips as she approached him. "Oh thank goodness you're okay."

"You two are still alive," he said putting his own gun away.

"How did you get here?" Sheva asked.

"We were at the port when we were attacked," he replied shaking his head. "Somehow I ended up here." He glanced around. "Where's the rest of the team?"

Chris looked away. "There were complications."

"Damn it."

"It's just the three of us now," Sheva piped.

Josh looked at the two of them. "Why did you not retreat? We are no match for them."

"I've got unfinished business," Chris answered, on the defensive.

Sheva shot him a brief glance. "The data that contained the B.O.W. experiment details also had a picture of a woman. He believes it's his former partner so…here we are."

"It's more than just a belief," Chris retorted. "I'm going to find Irving and get some answers about just what is going on around here."

Josh looked at the faraway look Sheva wore. "And you're going along with this?"

Before she could give an answer, running interrupted them and the three soldiers pulled up their weapons and watched as their enemies came towards the windows.

"We'll have to chit chat later," Chris said. "What are our options here?"

Looking for an escape route, Josh spotted a door on the upper level and gestured towards the elevator. "Let's get to the second floor. It looks like there may be a way out there."

The sound of a chainsaw whirring broke through the tension in the room and all three of them exchanged worried glances.

"Well we had better figure something out and quick," Chris muttered.

XXXXX

Irving's words still repeated in Sheva's mind as they drove along in silence. He'd mentioned a woman named Excella and of course his ramblings about Uroboros and how it was going to change the world's order. The thing that made her wonder the most was how he'd seemed so familiar with Chris' name, almost like he knew him and glancing at him now, she knew that was on his mind as well. But there were supposed to be answers in this cave they were approaching but were they ready to hear it?

Sheva sighed and pressed her face against her palm.

What if they did find his old partner…would he want to replace her? No, she couldn't think that way, _they_ were partners now and she trusted him.

Sheva cast a brief glance in his direction and realized there was something more than just trust there and wondered and hoped it might be there for him as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Sheva cast a sideways glance at her partner. He hadn't said a word since their encounter with Irving moments ago. The now dead man had claimed the answers they sought were in the cave they were now heading for but she wondered if Chris was ready for them. It was very apparent he cared deeply for this Jill Valentine and it hurt Sheva to even think about that but she was trying to fight that feeling. All they were to one another were partners, nothing more.

So if that was the case then why could she hear the fast beating of her heart in her ears and why did her chest hurt, like she'd never smile again.

The cave entrance was small and as Josh stopped their boat by a strip of land, the trio saw the other boat that that woman had used to escape from them.

"I guess he was telling the truth," Sheva said. "I wonder what we'll find."

"Answers," Chris said as he moved onto land and held his hand out for her.

Sheva tried not to allow herself to think anything of the gesture though that didn't stop her from feeling the heat of his fingers as they closed around hers. It was almost unbearable.

"Be careful, you two," Josh said tossing them a few boxes of ammo. "Give me an update when you find something."

Cocking her pistol, Sheva nodded. "Thanks and you stay safe too. We're all going to get out of this thing alive."

Josh nodded. "Chris," he called. "Take care of her."

"I don't-"

"You don't need to worry, Stone," Chris interjected, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Nothing is going to happen to her, to you, while I'm around."

Peering up at Chris and wondering if her face was really as hot as it felt, she smiled and looked at Josh. "We'll be in touch."

Josh watched the two of them walk away and grinned as he watched her familiarity with the American. She wasn't one who liked to be touched, playfully or otherwise so to see her so at home with the man and so at peace made him happy. She'd seen so much sadness and pain he hoped she would find happiness in her work. No, more than that. He hoped she would find love.

XXXXX

The creature wasn't dead.

The strange bat like monster from earlier had reappeared within the ruins Sheva and Chris had been maneuvering through and now they were separated.

Chris was frantically climbing over the rubble that had trapped him in a corner. She'd shoved him out the way but left herself with that monster and he could think about was her being alone and having to face that thing without him. He didn't have any doubt in her ability to handle herself, he simply didn't like having her out of his sight in such a situation. If something happened to her he…he didn't know what he would do and that thought alone made him push his muscles harder than ever before to get to her.

He had to get to her.

A shriek erupted from the creature and he heard Sheva yelling just as he leapt over the broken statue and couldn't help but grin. With one foot on the beasts' leg, Sheva was poised in a Captain Morgan position with her grenade launcher draped over her shoulder.

A fit of laughter followed Chris' grin as he slid down to where she was and clapped. "You are one hell of a woman."

"And don't you ever forget that," Sheva agreed pointing at him. "I thought I was in trouble when that creepy crawly started after me but then I stumbled across this pretty little thing." The beaming expression that had been playing on her face vanished and was replaced by a serious and stern look as she asked, "Who the hell is leaving the weapons around?"

Chris shrugged. "In the Kennedy Report, Leon wrote about a strange cloaked man who had just what he needed for nearly every situation and then disappeared when he was attacked. Maybe he's been following us around, gets a kick out of danger."

"It is a high," she said tapping the polished handle.

All traces of amusement faded from Chris' face as he overtook the gap between them and pushed her against the wall behind her, the grenade launcher clattering to the ground.

"You can't keep doing things like that. I'm surprised my heart didn't explode from all that worry, I just…couldn't…" He lowered his head so that their lips were barely touching. "I'm not going to lose you so I can't have you pulling stunts like that. We're partners and we'll overcome the odds together, okay?"

Unable to drag her eyes away from his mouth, Sheva nodded. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

Chris pulled away and dragged his fingers through his hair. "We should keep moving."

Sheva composed herself and retrieved her new weapon. "I agree, l-let's continue…who knows how much time we have."

She watched him nod and begin towards the staircase they'd revealed earlier and couldn't shake feeling regret.

She should have kissed him.

She should have just closed her eyes and attacked him, in a matter of speaking. He clearly cared about her but was that the extent? Was that the reason he'd pulled away and couldn't look at her now? Or was she afraid?

XXXXX

Sheva heaved a dry sigh and bent, placing her hands on her knees for a moment. She was thoroughly tired of killing her countrymen and was ready to stop this madness. Still she had no idea who was behind all of this bloodshed but when she found out, she planned on causing the culprit a world of pain.

"Look," Chris said interrupting her thoughts. He was already at the other end of the hall and looking into the next room.

Catching up with him, she looked around at the flowers in the center of the room. "What is this place?" Walking up the case into the middle, she gazed at the buds around them. "How are they surviving underground?"

"These are no ordinary flowers," Chris commented bending to examine one. Something caught his eye to their left and he pointed it out. "What's that?"

Sheva followed him back down the stairs and to a dusty container and watched him brush the dirt away to reveal an Umbrella logo. "What would that be doing here?"

"I don't know but it doesn't look like anyone has been around here for a while."

"I'm sure this place was supposed to be kept a secret but some of this equipment has got the Tricell logo on it…what does it mean?"

Chris glanced at her. "You don't think they could have been working together?" He shook his head. "Is this what Irving meant when he said answers?"

"I don't know but obviously there is some kind of connection with Umbrella and that isn't good." She met his gaze. "Um…Chris…"

"Well we can worry about that later, first we need to find Jill."

Sheva fought the urge to snicker. "Right, that's our main priority…let's see what we can dig up."

XXXXX

Chris laid his head back on the wall of the elevator and laughed while he palmed his forehead. "That was absolutely insane."

Joining in with his laughing, Sheva added, "I know, what in the hell were those things?" She chuckled. "I don't think I've ever seen anything so ugly."

He looked at her, at the blood from those creatures with the long tongues that stained her shirt. "I'm glad you work so well under pressure."

Sheva stopped laughing and slightly shrugged. "Yes, I suppose so and hopefully that's the last we see of those things."

All of a sudden, Chris felt as if they were miles apart, a moment ago she'd been making eye contact with him and despite everything they'd been laughing and enjoying one another's company. Now, as she nonchalantly moved into the corner, it seemed like she couldn't stand the thought of being in an enclosed space with him. He wondered what he had done.

_What do you think, you idiot? Stop talking about Jill and tell her how you feel. And just how is that?_

"Chris?" Sheva called.

He came out of his thoughts and saw that the elevator had stopped and Sheva had already started down the corridor. "Sorry, I was somewhere else."

"Clearly," she muttered. "Come and see this."

Entering the large area, Chris fell into stride with her and looked at the pods lining the walls. "What the hell…"

"These were in those pictures," Sheva said.

"Wait," Chris said looking at her. "That means Jill might be here." _Dammit, Chris_. He shot a brief glance in her direction and was disappointed when she barely registered what he'd said.

A loud siren began blaring all around them and a single pod levered forward and ejected a lifeless corpse into the abyss below.

"What have they done?" Sheva breathed.

Seeing the melancholy expression she wore, Chris reached out to touch her just as she maneuvered out of the way and towards a set of computers to their right.

"Maybe there's some information in here."

Closing his hand, Chris followed after her and began typing. A series of files and pictures opened and finally one of Jill though her brown locks were now blonde. "Jill," he said.

The floor began to lower down the large pole in the center, revealing even more of the pods.

"They must be kidnapping people from all over the world to experiment…it stopped," he added when their ride came to its end.

"No shit," Sheva said and when he gave her a look she added, "I couldn't not say it."

Chris turned back to the computers, all showing a red screen.

Sheva watched a terribly large spider crawl out from underneath the floor and look down at them. "I think we have a problem."

He whirled around, pulling out his shotgun as he went. "What pod did this thing fall out of?"

XXXXX

Chris and Sheva smacked hands together in triumph as their foe tumbled to its demise far below but before more celebration could be had, the floor began to lower once again. When it stopped, another pod extended towards them and opened to reveal it was empty.

"Damn it," Chris swore. "Where the hell is she?"

The computer screen behind them opened another window and a woman appeared and called, "Mr. Redfield, how nice to finally make your acquaintance."

"And who the hell are you?"

"That's Excella Gionne," Sheva replied stepping towards the screen. "She works for Tricell."

"You've done your homework," Excella said with a grin.

"You are supposed to be working against bioterrorism and here we find you helping it. Why?"

"As if I would explain myself to you," Excella said placing her hands on her hips. "Although, weren't you given orders to retreat?"

Sheva clenched her hands. "So that was you."

"Where's Jill?"

Excella chuckled. "Maybe I'll tell but then again, maybe I won't."

"I don't want to hear your crap, tell me where she is."

"As soon as you two are done with your little vigilante, love story, you should leave. There's nothing here worth throwing your life away for."

The screen closed.

"She's lying," Sheva said. "She must know something."

"It's time we got some real answers."

Sheva shook her head. "I can't believe she's involved in all of this."

"Well believe it and whatever her role is, we need to put an end to all of this and stop this meaningless killing."

"I agree," she said meeting his eyes. "We should keep going, I'm sure we're close to finding Jill."

Chris watched her as she walked past him towards the exit down the next hall. He wanted so much to tell her he cared about her but he didn't know if he could say anything other than that. He cared about Jill but he'd never felt this sensation of being tongue tied around her or any other woman. Though maybe it was best if she kept him at an arm's length so neither of them got hurt when all of this was over and they went back to their respective worlds.

XXXXX

"Wesker…" Chris said, his voice filled with anger. "I thought he was dead."

"Who's-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped.

Sheva turned away from him and started checking her gun.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it," Sheva interrupted in a clipped tone. "Let's find Jill so we can get out of this insane place."

Chris remained taciturn though he was cursing himself, every time they were getting along again, he went and screwed it up.

XXXXX

Back to back, Chris and Sheva inspected the small room, making sure it was empty. Off to their left was a chair where a shadowed figure sat and as they approached, Excella's voice rang out around them.

"Well, glad you could make it. Up here, you two."

"Where's Jill?" Chris yelled vehemently.

"Jill, Jill, Jill," Excella mocked waving her hand dismissively. "How do you put up with him, Sheva? He's like a broken record, hmph. I would have dumped his American ass by now." She burst into laughter. "Just as single minded as he said. You two spent so long trying to track down Uroboros, well enjoy."

The sexless creature stood and tentacles burst from its skin.

"You're planning on selling this to terrorists," Sheva said.

"Good guess, but no. I have no intention of selling this to terrorists."

"Then what are you using it for?" Chris asked.

The creature began grunting as the tentacles disappeared back into his body.

"Evolution," Excella said with a smirk. "My vision and his will soon become a reality."

"What are you talking about?" Sheva asked, keeping her gun trained on the creature.

Excella leaned on the control panel in front of her. "You'll find out soon enough, everyone will." Watching as her experiment began convulsing she said, "Too bad. Only the chosen are fit for the new coming world."

Tentacles erupted from the creature and replaced its skin as it approached them.

"This looks alto familiar," Sheva said backing away.

"Yeah but we don't have any fire to fry it with this time."

Sheva glanced at him and noticed something over his shoulder. "Maybe not." She sheathed her gun and ran towards the back wall, grabbing the flame thrower there. "I think we have our fire."

Chris turned and grinned. "Let's torch this bastard."

XXXXX

Tossing the spent weapon to the floor, Sheva fell onto the ground and set her arm on her knee. "That was hot."

Chris guffawed and glanced at the door off to their left that opened. "Come on," he said offering his hand. "Let's get this show back on the road."

Sheva stared at his hand for a brief moment before accepting and when he pulled her up and slid his hand around her waist to keep her against him, she regretted it for a moment.

But only a moment.

Chris pressed his mouth onto hers and scraped his tongue over her lower lip repeatedly until they parted and he snaked his tongue inside the warmth of her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kneading her fingers into his sweat-drenched hair. Feeling her encouragement, he moved his hands up onto the small of her back and applied the faintest amount of pressure.

She pulled away, her breath coming in ragged strokes. "We…shouldn't…the mission…"

Staring into her eyes, he nodded. "I agree."

Looking back at her lips, Chris kissed her again, their tongues meeting together in hot and hurried thrusts. Wanting to feel more of her, he pushed her back against a nearby wall, grabbed her leg and lifted it onto his thigh and began grinding his hips into hers. When she moaned into his mouth and the swell of her breasts flattened against his chest, he was the one to break their embrace, realizing that now was not the time to do this.

No matter how much he wanted it to be.

"Sorry," he said moving away and looking elsewhere, trying to calm himself. "I shouldn't have done that."

Sheva touched her lips; they were warm and slightly swollen from their kiss and closed her eyes. "We should…keep going."

"Alright let's…do…that…let's do that."

Chris withdrew his gun and headed into the next room.

Reliving that moment a second time, Sheva slowly opened her eyes and smiled. That had been the most exciting kiss she'd ever experienced and before this mission was over, she was going to experience a few more times.


	6. Chapter 6

Sheva watched him pull Jill into his arms and gnawed the inside of her cheek. The girl had been through a lot, most of which they didn't even know so she didn't fault him for wanting to make sure she was fine, it was just…jealousy was stabbing at her gut as she watched the scene in front of her and she felt awkward and out of place. Almost like the third wheel friend who's forced to walk behind the other two while they hold hands. Course she'd never been that person, the cuddly girl next door type was someone she would never be and watching him stare down at his former partner, she could see he had real feelings for her.

"Are you alright?" Chris asked.

Jill smiled up at him. "I'm so sorry," she breathed.

"I'll just give you two some privacy," Sheva said as monotone as possible.

"No wait," Jill said. "You're Sheva, right?"

"Yes."

"I…I couldn't control my actions, I'm sorry I attacked you. Forgive me."

Sheva could still feel that her face was bruised where Jill's elbow had greeted her and she shook her head. "Don't give it any thought, it was that bastard Wesker's fault." She resisted the urge to clench her hands. "I'm just glad we were able to help."

Chris helped her up. "Can you stand?"

"Yes," Jill replied pulling away from him. "I'll be fine but you two need to stop him."

"We can't just leave you here," Chris protested.

Sheva glanced at them but remained silent.

"You have to," Jill said firmly. "This is your only chance, if he escapes then Uroboros will spread around the globe, millions will die."

"But-"

"I'm alright," Jill said again. She put her hands on his shoulders. "You two are the only ones who can stop him." She glanced at Sheva and moved her arms back to her sides as a grin slid onto her lips. "Before it's too late…don't you trust your partner?"

Sheva had to forcibly keep herself from cracking her neck and doing something she'd regret later, not at that moment but certainly later. "She's right you know, we need to stop that madman."

"Alright," Chris said finally and turned towards the elevator behind him.

Jill glanced at Sheva. "Take care of him though I'm sure I don't need to tell you that."

Not liking the smile she wore, Sheva didn't respond and entered the lift with him.

XXXXX

The sky was stained orange as the sun set in the distance. Sheva stared into the dim light as she strode alongside Chris and wondered what he was thinking. She noticed he had stopped a second later and turned to look at him.

"Chris?"

"…I'm alright," he said walking past her and out onto the platform in front of them. He peered out at the water below them and at the large tanker to their right.

Right behind him, Sheva looked as well and pointed when she spotted Wesker and Excella approaching the ship from the docks. "There they are."

"It's time to put an end to this," Chris said through clenched teeth. "Let's go."

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

He stopped again and looked back at her. "What do you want me to say?"

Feeling like her usual bold self, Sheva replied, "I want you to say that…you have feelings for me, that that kiss we shared meant something to you and that I'm…" She cast a melancholy look over the water, unsure of how he was going to respond. "That I'm your partner and that you won't lose your head."

Chris stared at her, his eyes holding her gaze as he moved towards her and placed his hand onto her cheek. "It did mean something to me and I'd like to explore that after we've finished this fight, if that's what you want, of course."

Unable to stop herself, Sheva laughed and looked away. "I've been thinking about which bar to take you to."

"You want to get me alone and drunk don't you?" Chris asked her with a chuckle.

Sheva grabbed his hand and pressed it to her chest, where her heart was pounding. "Do you feel that? That is how you make me feel and…I have to say I kinda like it."

They stayed in that position for a minute before Chris slid his hand up her neck and back to her cheek. Smiling, he slowly leaned down and gently fit his lips perfectly onto hers and kissed her for a few seconds before he broke it.

"Don't stop," she whispered, her eyes still closed.

"Now that is something I'd like to hear later but for now, we've got a job to finish." He gestured towards the docks. "Are you ready partner?"

Opening her eyes, she smirked. "You have no idea."

XXXXX

"This is getting insane," Sheva said as they shut the door to the inside of the ship.

Chris sighed. "It does get old after a while and I'm sad to say I've seen worse."

Looking at him with her eyebrows raised she asked, "You've seen worse than crazed gun totting men who don't go down when a bullet lands a direct headshot?"

"Try giant man eating worms," Chris said with a nod of his head. "Oh and my absolute favorite was a lunatic of a head scientist who put his own virus into him and mutated into a thing with a huge eye on his shoulder."

She stared at him, shaking her head.

"That last one I didn't actually see but my sister told me about it."

"Your sister? Is she a member of the BSAA as well?"

Chris put his hand on the next door in front of them and looked at her. "No though she helps in her own way. When we get that drink I'll tell you all about it."

Sheva nodded as she approached the door. "I'll hold you to it, sounds like you've lived an interesting life."

"That's one way to put it."

They kicked the door open and trained their guns on Excella who whirled around, shutting the case on the table in front of her.

"Freeze," Chris shouted.

"Tell us what the hell is going on here," Sheva demanded. "We aren't giving you any other option before you try and talk your way out of this."

"You won't get hurt if you cooperate," Chris added.

Excella snickered. "You'd shoot an unarmed woman? I suppose it's true about what they say about you Americans, then."

"Where's Wesker?" Chris asked, his tone raising.

Eying the two of them, Excella grabbed the cases and made a dash for the door on the other side of the room. They opened fire, one bullet forcing one of the cases she held out of her hand and onto the floor.

Chris punched the door she'd locked. "Damn it."

Leaning down, Sheva retrieved a vile and held it out to him. "Chris, is this…"

"Whatever it is, she seemed protective of it, let's take them with us. You never know what might come in handy."

She nodded and pocketed it. "Let's keep moving."

Through the next door was a winding corridor that led to a large room. Walking further into the room, they heard the door they were heading for open and a large man holding an even larger machine gun stepped out in front of them.

"Duck," Chris yelled as he dove for cover.

Sheva moved out the way, hiding behind two containers stacked on top of one another. "What's the plan?" she asked against the sound of pelting bullets.

Chris glanced around the container he was behind and saw a couple explosive containers behind the man before a flurry of bullets rained towards him and he ducked down again.

"There are two orange boxes on either side of him, if we can both get a hit on them, I think we can end this quickly."

Sheva nodded and readied her automatic. "Don't get shot," she said as she heard the man begin reloading his weapon.

The two moved from their cover and aimed at the containers. As they shot, so did their opponent and he fired off a hail of bullets before the explosives blew up, burning him to death.

Sheva had watched Chris get shot like it was in slow motion and with tears pushing against her eyes she rushed to his side and turned him over. "Chris? Chris? Please talk to me!"

He opened his eyes. "I'm fine…thanks…" He coughed as he sat up. "Thank goodness we found these gun proof vests, huh?"

Feeling a flood of emotions, she punched his shoulder. "Don't do that, I was so worried you were…" She stood up and turned away to wipe her eyes.

Standing, Chris wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. "Don't you worry. I'm not going to leave you. I wouldn't do that but now you know how it feels."

She pulled away and looked at him, wondering how long he'd had feelings for her, not that she knew specifically what they were but she planned on finding that out later. "No more being reckless, huh?" she said with a grin.

Chris shrugged as he followed behind her towards the door. "I don't know, I feel like it fits me. Maybe one day they'll call me Reckless Redfield."

"I don't think that'd be a good thing," she piped with a chuckle.

Another hallway brought them to an elevator and that back to the outside of the ship where a pile of dead bodies were off to their right.

"What the hell…" Sheva said running out towards it.

"Sheva wait," Chris said rushing after her.

Groaning and holding her stomach, Excella slowly approached them from behind the dead. "Why, when I've done so much?"

Chris raised his gun. "What's going on?"

"How nice of you to join us," Wesker's voice said from an intercom. "This is where your journey ends. Uroboros is nearly at its completion. Six billion cries will birth a new balance."

"Sorry Wesker," Chris shouted. "Not on my watch."

"Albert," Excella cried. "You said we would rule this world together." She fell to her knees as blood spilled from her mouth. "Why?"

"I thought they were partners," Sheva said.

"Wesker doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself. That what no one he works with seems to realize."

"Soon even you will understand, Chris," Wesker continued. "One glimpse into my perfect new world and it will all make sense."

"Show yourself," Chris demanded.

"Unfortunately you will not be lucky enough to see it. You won't even see the dawn. Sorry Excella, it seems Uroboros has rejected you. Though you have been excellent help and I have just one last job for you."

"Albert," she yelled as tentacles burst from her mouth and began wrapping around the dead bodies.

"What the hell?" Sheva said pointing her gun.

The tentacles merged into a large monster with dripping black goo and threw a large one of its arms at them.

Sheva stood back up after rolling out the way and looked at Chris. "There's a time to fight and there's a time to run."

He looked at her, nodded and began sprinting beside her towards the path behind them. They jumped around the corner as tentacles came flying at them. Scrambling back to their feet, they took off once again until they ran into a dead end. Chris boosted her onto the container and jumped to grab her hand when she turned and offered it. Helping him up, they jumped off onto the other side and began running. They dove forward when the monster erupted past the container and threw itself at them, its tentacles crashing into the wall in a mess of dripping liquid.

Chris was the first to get up and pulled Sheva up as he started dashing up the rest of the staircase. They ended in a small area and proceeded into the door on the level just above them, locking it into place as they closed it behind them.

"Holy shit," Sheva said taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Persistent son of a bitch," Chris added walking forward.

"Now what do we do?" Sheva asked. "Do you think our weapons can hurt that thing?"

Chris shook his head. "Probably not, if only we could find something with a bit more firepower. Let's just get the hell out of here before that thing brings this place down."

The next few corridors provided them with a few boxes of ammunition and opening the door at its end, they found themselves back outside.

"Look," Sheva said opening the gated door in front of them. She ran over to a display and broke the glass, pulling out a large L.T.D. gun and heaving it onto her shoulders. "Ask and you shall receive."

Chris eyed the new weapon. "Oh, hell yeah."

The monster burst from below, its massive frame taking up a good portion of the space and towering miles over them.

"Up the ladder," Chris said. "I'll keep it distracted down here and you get a good shot with this thing."

"Be careful," she said.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Don't miss okay."

Smiling, she quickly overtook the ladder and listening to the sound of shots being popped from below, she raised the gun and pointed it at the creature. Before she could fire, something touched her boot and sent an electric current through her body. Screaming, she dropped the gun and hit the floor.

"Sheva," Chris yelled. "What's going on up there? Are you alright?"

Clenching her teeth against the burning pain she felt, Sheva opened her eyes and saw a small, slimy creature crawling towards her face. She pulled her knife out and plunged it into the thing, another electric pulse coursing through her veins as she did so and her dagger was jolted from her hand.

"Motherfucker," she swore getting back to her feet, grabbing the L.T.D. as she went.

"Sheva?!"

"Hold on," she replied aiming. "I've got this thing."

Pressing the trigger, a massive bolt of light stabbed the creature, prompting it to shriek as it slowly shriveled and died.

Sheva dropped the gun and coughed, wiping the blood away that oozed out the corner of her mouth.

Pulling himself onto the level, Chris walked over to her and offered his hand. "What was going on up here?"

She glanced at the dead creature that had attacked her and accepted his help, letting him pull her against his chest and momentarily resting her head there. "I think that thing had spores or something."

Chris lifted her chin and wiped his thumb across her lips. "This is the homestretch, let's finish this thing."

Looking up at him, she nodded. "Let's go get that bastard."

Back inside, Chris spotted a security screen and headed towards it.

"An assault bomber," Sheva said joining him. "Jill said Wesker was planning on spreading the Uroboros worldwide, maybe this is how."

The screen changed to a different view, showing Wesker overlooking the plane.

"There he is," Chris said. "Let's put an end to this."

Chris' P.A. went off and he pulled it out and pressed the incoming call which opened and showed Jill's worn face.

"Jill, are you alright?" Chris asked.

"There's no time for that," she said quickly glancing off to the right. "Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. Wesker's superhuman strength comes from a virus but it's very unstable. In order to make sure he stays in control he must inject himself regularly with a serum."

Sheva looked at Chris. "That means if we stop his supply then we cut his power."

"That would work," Jill said with a nod. "But he's just taken a dose so he won't need any for a while. There's still hope though, Excella said that the amount administered has to be precise, so if he injects too much, it should act like a poison. The label on the one you need is PG67AW."

That sounded familiar and Sheva pulled out the vial they'd gotten earlier.

"I'm going to try and find a way to escape," Jill said. "See if you can find that serum, Excella always kept it with her in an attaché case." The screen blacked out.

"Jill?" Chris said shaking the device. "Damn it…I hope she's okay."

"You have feelings for her," Sheva said in a whisper.

Chris looked at her and shook his head. "Not like that."

"I can see it on your face."

He smiled as he pocketed the P.A. and put his hands onto her shoulders. "I promise you, you're the only woman I've had…that I've wanted to…" He scoffed and glanced away before planting a kiss on her. "What I'm trying to say is that I love you."

Staring at him, unsure if she'd really heard him say what he'd just said, she asked, "Could…could you repeat that?"

Chris chuckled. "I'm in love with you, Sheva Alomar and that's not going to change."

She looked away, an odd feeling creeping up on her.

"Don't say anything," Chris said quickly as he scanned her face. "Let's get through this and then…and then we can say what needs to be said."

Sheva cleared her throat and held up the vial. "This is what Jill was talking about, we have his poison."

Chris took a deep breath. "Then let's give it a shot." He motioned towards the elevator off to their left and headed for it.

Putting the vial away, Sheva slowly trailed after him, her thoughts on what he'd just told her and she wondered if she felt the same way. She certainly felt very strongly for him but love wasn't a feeling she'd felt since she'd been a child…since her mother had…

"Sheva?"

She looked at him and fixed a smile onto her face as she entered the elevator along with him.

"Are you alright?"

Sheva nodded and glanced away.


	7. Chapter 7

Wesker heard the door open behind him followed by the shuffle of footsteps and he knew they'd gotten through his last defenses but he was worried. He was, after all, Albert Wesker, a god by right of Uroboros and it was finally time to end the life of the pesky Redfield who had been plaguing his efforts all these years.

"Your plans are finished," Chris yelled as the unmistakable sound of his gun cocking followed thereafter.

"There's no way out this time," Sheva added.

He couldn't help but smile. These insignificant bugs actually believed they had the right to stand before him, to threaten him and it was time to take off the velvet gloves, metaphorically of course, the world was still unworthy to feel his naked touch.

"Don't you two ever tire of failing your mission?" He pulled off his glasses, his eyes glowing as his anger grew. "You really are becoming quite an inconvenience for me."

Turning, he tossed the shades at them and dashed forward, grabbing Sheva's gun as she raised it and pushing Chris out of the way with a simple brush of his shoulder. As Chris flew into a nearby pole, Wesker flipped Sheva onto her back and turned to face Chris, a grin forming on his lips as he slid his sunglasses back into place.

Wesker was unable to keep from chuckling as Chris began unleashing a hail of bullets at him, all in vain as the virus that flowed through his veins gave him had accepted him and given him a new life. When Chris charged him, Wesker again smirked as he stopped the attack with ease, delivered a swift kick and tossed him into the rail.

Chris started to shoot once again, missing every shot as Wesker dodged with a quick flip, landing behind Sheva and grabbing her arm, yanking her back into his chest and placing his hand firmly across her throat. As she struggled he increased the pressure of his hold and glanced at the closest thing he'd ever had to a nemesis.

"Why are you doing this?" Chris demanded as he trained his gun on him. "What do you accomplish by unleashing Uroboros?"

"Every day humans come one step closer to their own self destruction," he answered. "I'm not destroying the world, I'm saving it."

"You're insane," Sheva croaked.

Wesker smirked. "With Excella gone, I'm going to need a new mistress to keep me satisfied during my reign. Perhaps we'll see is Uroboros accepts you as it did me and then…" He leaned and whispered in her ear, "You'll understand everything."

"Sheva!" Chris shouted.

She pulled away, ducking down and rolling away from Wesker as he dodged a bullet, dashed at Chris and jabbed his fist into his face. Sheva took a shot, watching in disbelief as he dodged and continued blocking the attacks Chris was throwing at him. When he grabbed her wrist and caught Chris' a moment later, he heaved them over his shoulders like feathers and tossed them down onto the lower platform.

XXXXX

"This guy's lost it," Sheva said through clenched teeth as she got to her feet, snagging the virus viral that had fallen from her pocket.

"Keep a good hold on that," Chris said staggering to his feet. "It may be our only chance."

Wesker jumped over the railing, landing on his feet and said, "Things are beginning to get interesting now, eh Chris? Do you really think you two can defeat me?"

"Either way, I'm not going to stop until I'm dead," Chris decreed.

"Well then," Wesker said with a devious chuckle. "I'll just have to kill you quickly, won't I?" He glanced at Sheva. "You on the other hand, I have a few plans I think you can help me with."

She shook her head. "You're absolutely insane if you think I'd help you with anything."

Wesker chuckled again. "I know what it is you're looking for or rather should I say whom."

Sheva lowered her gun slightly. "Wh-What?"

Seeing an opportunity, Wesker sprinted towards her in a split second and pressed his elbow into her chest, sending her flying back onto the floor. He stepped to the left and right in one smooth flowing motion as Chris fired at him and lunged forward, narrowly missing when he rolled out of the way.

The flood lights in the immediate area shut off and a rocket exploded onto Wesker, a large cloud of smoke erupted when it connected.

Chris joined Sheva who stood in the far right corner with a spent launcher.

She shook her head when she saw his figure advancing towards them from the shroud. "How did he survive that?"

"Sheva, Sheva, Sheva," Wesker said wagging his finger. "That fire you have just makes me want you more. Come now, I know you ach to feel the power of Uroboros and I'm willing to give it to you, that and the name you seek for a price."

Chris glanced at his partner. "What's he talking about?"

She shrugged. "He's just trying to confuse us, don't lose focus now I'll distract him and you-"

"No," Chris said shaking his head. "I don't want you anywhere near him. I'll keep him busy."

Sheva watched him run at Wesker and engage in a fisticuffs round though it was easy to see that the upper hand was not on Chris' side. Stepping around so she was behind the two, she crept behind Wesker and gasped when he whirled around and slammed his fist into her chin, sending her straight to the floor.

"Sheva!" Chris yelled as he pulled out his shotgun and unloaded shells into Wesker's back.

Seeing Wesker fall to his knees, temporarily hurt by the up close force of the shot, Sheva scrambled back to her feet, withdrawing the needle as she went and jammed it into his neck and shrieking when his blood touched her. She backed away, clutching her hand and watching Wesker fall onto his hands.

"Are you alright?" Chris asked coming over to her.

"Fine," she replied, her eyes still on their foe as he grunted and grabbed his head. "Did it work?"

Wesker screamed as blood fell from his lips and he tore his glasses from his face, slowly rising to his feet as he stared at them with clenched teeth as his veins bulged. "This isn't over, Chris." He gave a hard glance at Sheva before turning and leaping onto the next platform that housed the aircraft.

They took off after him, realizing what it would mean if he got away. As the bomber geared up, the launch doors opening for it, Chris lunged for the loading doors and held his hand out for Sheva. Pushing herself as hard as possible, she leapt forward and grabbed it just as it took off and exhaled as he pulled her aboard.

"If you'd told me I would have been chasing an aircraft carrying a virus to kill all of the world's population a few days ago," Sheva breathed as she set her head on Chris' chest. "I would have called you insane."

Chris put his hand onto her head and chuckled. "I call that a Tuesday."

"How sweet."

Back on alert, Chris and Sheva pulled out their guns and crept further inside the loading bay of the ship. On the other side of the small room they saw him knelt beside the next door.

"You can certainly do better than him," Wesker said. "It would seem I have underestimated you two, you're an even bigger pain in the ass than I thought."

"Save it, Wesker," Chris snarled. "There's no one left to help you now."

"I don't need anyone else," Wesker retorted, the venom in his voice unmistakable. He slammed his fist into the wall, denting it and stood up. "I have Uroboros. In less than five minutes we'll have reached the optimal altitude for missile deployment. Uroboros will be released into the atmosphere, ensuring complete global saturation."

They moved out of the way as he jumped towards them and he dove for Chris, landing blows to his side and face as he held his gun hand. Wesker whirled and slammed his leg into Chris' back, sending him flying into the far wall.

Turning his attention to Sheva, Wesker smirked. "I would run."

She ducked as he shot at her, hiding behind a slim pole and yelping when a bullet hit her arm.

"Your feeble attempts only delay the inevitable."

Chris fired, his anger rising as his bullets missed and Wesker refused to stop his assault on Sheva. "Get the hell away from her."

"The entire world will be infected," Wesker said finally turning his attention to Chris and appearing in front of him in a swirl of black smoke, his gun now directly pointed at him. "And new Genesis is at hand and I am its creator."

"Fuck off," Sheva yelled as she rushed forward with her knife drawn.

Wesker flipped backwards, landing on the ceiling and aiming down at them. His gun fell from his hand when Chris shot and he lunged down at him, sweeping Chris from his feet with a quick leg roll.

Sheva ran at him and stabbed her knife into his arm, struggling for a brief moment as he forced it away and hooked his hand around her throat. It took her a minute but she was able to pry his fingers away and she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his arm and tossing him onto the floor.

"I've had enough of your bullshit," Chris declared as he ran to Wesker and plunged the needle into his neck. "You're just another one of Umbrella's leftovers."

Wesker staggered away, falling to his knees as he fought the virus.

"You know what we have to do," Sheva said glancing at the lever on the back wall.

"Alright, cover me," Chris said.

Sheva ran back with him as he dashed for the lever and turned back when she heard Wesker approaching them and fired as he jumped out of the way, onto the wall and at Chris, narrowly missing as his punch broke through the wall beside the lever.

As the loading door opened, the air began sucking out viciously, pulling the crates out tugging at the three of them as well.

"You'll pay for that," Wesker growled, turning to Chris.

"Hang on," Chris shouted.

Sheva grabbed a pole as the air pulled at her and she watched as Wesker smacked into it and flew past her. Her eyes grew into saucers and her breath caught in her throat when she felt him grab her ankle. As she attempted to shake him off, her own grip falter as she realized he was not going to release her and she sadly glanced at Chris. Smiling, she let go of the pole and closed her eyes as she felt herself falling.

"No," Chris screamed, releasing his own grip and barely grabbing her before it was too late. "I'm not…letting you go."

"I'm taking the two of you with me," Wesker said as he grabbed her other shoe.

Thinking of that drink, Sheva pulled out her pistol. "Like hell you will."

Firing, Wesker let go of her and tumbled out of the craft.

The carrier crashed down into the lava ridden island below, scraping along until it came to a screeching halt and sent both Sheva and Chris cascading out the open hatch.

Sheva opened her eyes and smiled when she found she was lying on top of Chris, his hands still tightly holding onto hers. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he answered with a groan. "I can't believe what you tried to pull." When she tried to get up he refused to let go. "Oh no, I'm keeping you right where I can see you."

She giggled. "Come on you, we should probably figure out some way out of here."

Standing up, Sheva checked her arm and gasped when she saw that the bullet wound she'd taken just moments ago was no longer there, as if it had healed and she shook her head, thinking that maybe she hadn't taken the hit.

"Everything okay, Sheva?"

"Yes," she replied looking up at him. "Where are we?"

Chris took a few steps away from the carrier. "I haven't a clue."

Footsteps drew their attention and Sheva was the first to see Wesker standing on an overlooking hill, staring down at them.

"I should have killed you years ago, Chris," Wesker said.

"Your mistake," Chris said raising his gun. "It's over, Wesker."

He grinned and plunged his fist into the container at his feet marked Uroboros. A flurry of tentacles began wrapping around his body and he pulled up a piece of the ship, crafting it into a makeshift blade and jumped to where they were. "Time to die."

"Fall back!" Sheva shouted running for the next rock formation.

"Do you really believe the world is worth saving?" Wesker asked as he slammed his new arm towards them.

The rocks crumbled as Chris ran across it, sending him to the lower level and separated them.

Sheva glanced down at him. "Oh no, Chris!"

Holding his stomach, Chris rose. "I'm fine, don't worry but you need to run. We'll meet up over there."

Wesker jumped behind him. "Natural selection leaves the survivors stronger and better. Humans have escaped this winnowing for far too long."

Firing rounds into Wesker's back from her high point of view, Sheva swore as she reloaded; her bullets didn't seem to be scraping the surface of his tentacle like armor. A few more shots and she saw something orange pulsating on his back and immediately informed Chris of the development via intercom.

More tentacles grew from his other arm and Wesker grinned at Chris, his eyes glowing. He turned and jumped to the ledge Sheva had been shooting him from.

"Sheva, run!" Chris shouted aiming his gun.

"Way ahead of you," she said heading away from Wesker.

Wesker began destroying the path behind him as he advanced towards her. "Everywhere, nothing but loathsome humans."

"You were human once," Sheva said looking back at him when she reached a dead end. "What makes you any different from the rest of us?"

Laughing, Wesker replied, "I am doing something about it and all you two are doing is standing in my way."

Swallowing her fear, Sheva leapt to the rock across the gap and felt her heart stop for a second when she felt it falling apart beneath her feet. She jumped for the next platform, snagging her nails into the rock as best she could. Dangling from the side of it she started trying to climb up though found that there wasn't much to help her pull herself up.

Chris saw her predicament and rushed around to the other side of the platform he was on, finding a large boulder in his path. "Just…hold on Sheva. Don't you dare let go."

"I'm…trying…" She pulled up, rolling onto the small space and panting as she sat up and saw that Wesker was closing in on her. "Ch-Chris?"

Looking the boulder up and down, Chris took a few steps back, rushed at it and started pushing. When it started to shift he began jabbing his shoulder into it, ignoring the jagged sides that dug into his flesh. Punching as hard as he could, he the rock finally dislodged and started to roll, with one final shout, he attacked it with both fists, sending it hurling into the lava and creating a path.

"Hell yeah," she commented as she jumped to the next rock.

Wesker flung his arm at her, the tentacles wrapping around her leg in mid-air and pulled her up then tossed her to the large rock formation in the center of the area.

Sheva hit the ground with a hard thud and yelled in pain as she felt the bone in her left arm crack.

Making his way to her, Chris pulled her off the ground and into his arms, his brows low as he looked at the cuts and bruises on her. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

She cracked an eye open and nodded. "No time for sweet nothings just yet, we still have to take this bastard down." Trying not to nurse her arm, she let him help her to her feet.

Wesker slammed down a few feet from them. "How touching," he mused. "I'm afraid it's time to put an end to this little love story."

Chris pulled out his shotgun and began firing while Sheva joined in with her machine gun, biting her lip to stop from shrieking as the recoil from the gun stung her injured arm. When Wesker sent his arm crashing at them, they rolled out the way on opposite sides.

With the pulsating object she'd seen earlier in sight, Sheva unloaded her bullets, ducking out the way when Wesker whirled around and swung the blade attached to his arm at her.

Facing the orange spot, Chris was able to shoot off two shells before Wesker dug his arms into the ground and the tentacles erupted back out, swirling around him in a tornado like motion.

"I have an idea," Chris whispered.

"What?" she asked.

"You'll know when it happens, stay here."

He waited until the whirlwind had ended and as Wesker recovered from the attack, Chris rushed him and jumped onto his back. He started pulling the tentacles away from the orange weak point that had revealed itself on his chest.

"Now, Sheva."

"I…I can't without hitting you."

"Then shoot through me," he grunted.

Refusing to do anything to hurt him, Sheva sprinted forward and began slashing at the spot with her knife. After a few seconds of hacking, she stabbed her weapon as far into it as possible and held as Wesker threw Chris off his back and fell to the ground. Withdrawing his own dagger, Chris ran back and plunged it into the point on his back, digging it in as far as he could.

Wesker pushed them off and staggered back. Looking at them with narrowed eyes, the ground began to shake and dissolved beneath his feet, sinking him into the lava as well.

The sound of a helicopter drew Chris and Sheva's attention and they looked on with relief as one appeared in the sky and hovered above them as a rope ladder fell down.

"Grab on," Jill yelled.

Chris made sure Sheva began to climb first and followed after, nearly missing the last rung as the rock he stood on fell into the lava. The two climbed up, happy to see friendly faces as they boarded.

"Chris!" Wesker screamed from the lava as the tentacles around his arm grew and wrapped themselves around the helicopter rail and pulled, trying to shake the aircraft down.

"Sheva, Chris," Jill said pointing to the wall. "Use those."

Pulling off one launcher, Sheva handed it to Chris and placed the second on her shoulder.

"Ready, partner?" Chris asked as they looked out at their foe.

Sheva smiled as she looked at him. "I'm ready for that drink."

Returning the smile, Chris heaved his launcher onto his shoulder and took aim. "I hope you burn in hell, Wesker."

"To the end of the nightmare," Sheva added.

Pressing the trigger, their rockets launched and split the air as they traveled down at him, exploding on impact.

Sheva smirked as the smoke cleared and Albert Wesker was no more. "That was for our fallen brothers."

Jill joined them as they looked on and said, "I know some people who will be happy to hear about his demise."

"Hasta la vista, baby," Chris muttered as he set the launcher down at saw against the back wall.

Sheva and Jill exchanged glances before bursting into laughter and joining him.

"You are so corny," Sheva said between giggles.

"Oh come no, I had to say something else, like at the end of the movies."

"You're supposed to say that before you deliver the ending blow."

He waved his hand dismissively. "What matters is that this thing is finally behind us and I don't know about you two but I'm ready to look forward." He slipped his arm around Sheva, pulled her close and whispered, "And the first thing on the agenda is to get that drink."

Feeling her face heat up, Sheva chuckled and rubbed her arm, pausing when she realized that it was fine, the fracture she'd felt earlier had vanished.

"Glad to see you two are fine," Josh piped from the pilot's seat.

Sheva tuned out the conversation the rest of them engaged in as she wondered what was going on with her. She didn't know when but something had happened to her and it wasn't normal. When she felt Chris give her a squeeze she banished that train of thought for the moment as other emotions flooded her mind. She hadn't felt like this in a long time but it was different from last time. He made her feel excited and bubbly and in truth she couldn't wait to see what happened after this moment. Though as much as she liked that feeling, she couldn't help but feel scared for a myriad of different reasons; reasons that had only been divulged to few and now a new one that only she suspected.

Glancing at him, she thought of all the pain and suffering she'd seen and felt herself and her reasons for joining the BSAA surfaced and she looked away at the island as it disappeared into the distance.


	8. Chapter 8

Sheva looked at the caller and answered. "You've found him?" She nodded. "Send me the information and I'll meet you at the garage." She ended the call and let her arm fall onto her bare leg.

Finally she had the information she'd been searching for and it was time for payback. All those years of pain and anguish and guilt and now she would get closure with his death.

Sitting on the hotel bed, Sheva glanced behind her and smiled as she stared at Chris who was still asleep, probably dead tired from their mission and all the…celebrating they'd done last night.

She stood up and held her breath when he stirred for a moment, ultimately just shifting positions. She wanted to kiss him, to feel the warmth of his arms around her again but she didn't want to risk him waking up. The thought killed her as she dressed but he would ask where she was going and explaining would be long and painful. Plus this was her fight and once it was over she would find him again and maybe they could pick up where they'd left off.

Scribbling a note on a sheet of paper, she set it on the nightstand and silently slipped from the room.

Outside the hotel, Sheva pulled out her phone and dialed the previous caller. "I'm on my way but I think I should tell you something Carlos…I…I think I'm infected."


End file.
